Christian Coleman (born March 6, 1996) is an American professional

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

sprinter who competes in the

100 meters The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contes ...

and

200 meters The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

. He is the former world champion in the 100 meters. He was a double gold medallist at the World Championships in Athletics in 2019, winning gold medals in both the 100 m and

4 × 100-meter relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest ...

. He holds personal records of 9.76 seconds for the 100 m, which made him the 6th fastest all-time in the history of

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

event, and 19.85 for the 200 m. Coleman is the

world indoor record World records in Sport of athletics, athletics are ratified by World Athletics. Athletics records comprise the best performances in the sports of track and field, road running and racewalking. Records are kept for athletics at the Summer Olympi ...

holder for the 60 meters with 6.34 seconds. He was

IAAF Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

champion in 2018 and the world number one ranked runner in the 100 m for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Coleman represented the United States in the relay at the

2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

, competing in the heats only. He was the gold medallist in the 60 m at the

2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 17th IAAF World Indoor Championships was held from 1 to 4 March 2018 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. This was the city's second hosting of the event as it previously did so in 2003. Bidding process Birmingham bid for the 2016 IAAF World Ind ...

and is a two-time American national champion, having won the 60 m in 2018 and 100 m in 2019. Coleman competed collegiately for the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity college athletics, intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in NCAA Division I, ...

and won five

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

titles indoors and out, including American collegiate record performances in both the 100 m and 60 m. On June 17, 2020, it was announced that Coleman was provisionally suspended from competition due to a missed drug test dating back to December 9, 2019. On October 27, it was announced that Coleman had been banned until May 13, 2022, missing the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. He later appealed the decision to the

Court of Arbitration for Sports The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its c ...

that reduced his suspension to a year, citing that Coleman never tested positive for PEDs, but he would still miss the

Career

Born to Seth and Daphne Coleman in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, Christian Coleman grew up with two sisters, Camryn and Cailyn. He came from a sporting family, as two of his cousins were letter-winners in

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

and his older sister Camryn competed in

Georgia Southern University Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in H ...

. He took part in track from a young age, winning the long jump in his age category at the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

Championships in 2007.Christian Coleman
University of Tennessee Sports. Retrieved September 2, 2019. He attended high school at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School in

Fayetteville, Georgia Fayetteville is a city in and the county seat of Fayette County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 18,957, up from 15,945 at the 2010 census. Fayetteville is located south of downtown Atlanta. In 201 ...

and was part of his high school track team. In his senior year, he competed at the 2014

New Balance Nationals Outdoor The New Balance Nationals Outdoor is a high school track and field meet in the United States. Since 1990, the National Scholastic Athletic Foundation has organized a national invitational championship meet in the United States and has been the host ...

and was a finalist in both the

100-meter dash The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

and

200-meter dash The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

. At the Georgia High School State Championships he won the 100 m, 200 m,

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...

, and

4 × 100 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest ...

, as well as setting state high school records in the 100 m (10.38), 200 m (21.10), and the 4 × 100 m relay (41.88). In addition, he was an all-state high school football player as a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

and wide receiver. He ended 2014 with a 100 m best of 10.30 seconds.Christian Coleman
IAAF. Retrieved September 2, 2019. Coleman received the Fred R. Langley Athletic Scholarship and went on to attend the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th sta ...

College

At Tennessee, Coleman was the 60 meters champion and 200 meters runner up at the 2016 SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships. He then went on to win the 200 meters at the National Track and Field Indoor Championships and was 3rd in the 60 meters. He was the runner-up in both the 100 meters and 200 meters dash at the

2016 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2016 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships were the 95th NCAA Men's Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships and the 35th NCAA Women's Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships held for the fourth consecutive year ...

. After coming off an outstanding sophomore season, one that ended in making the 2016 Olympic team, he continued his success into his Junior season at Tennessee. During his indoor campaign he set PRs throughout the season resulting in world leading times in the 60 meters and 200 meters dash. Coleman took gold in both events at the 2017 Indoor National Track and Field Championships in historic fashion. He ran 6.45 seconds in the 60 meters, tying the collegiate record, and 20.11 seconds in the 200 meters, just 0.01 seconds off the collegiate record held by Wallace Spearmon. Christian finished his collegiate career by winning the 100 meters dash in 10.04 seconds and the 200 meters in 20.25 seconds at the

2017 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2017 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships were the 96th NCAA Men's Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships and the 36th NCAA Women's Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships held for the fifth consecutive year ...

. Coleman joins former Tennessee sprinter, Justin Gatlin, as the only other person to sweep the 60 meters and 200 meters indoor titles, and the 100 meters and 200 meters outdoor titles. Coleman received some notoriety after the

2017 NFL Draft The 2017 NFL Draft was the 82nd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27–29, returning to Philadelphia ...

scouting combine. John Ross set a new combine record of 4.22 seconds in the

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL Draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a h ...

and claimed he was faster than

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

champion sprinter

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay. An eight-ti ...

. Coleman responded to this by running the 40 yards in 4.12 seconds on turf. Coleman was Tennessee's first winner of The Bowerman in 2017, an award that honors collegiate track and field's most outstanding athlete of the year.

Professional

Coleman qualified for the 2016 Olympic Trials in both the 100 meters and 200 meters. In the 100 m semi-finals he broke the

10-second barrier The 10-second barrier is the physical and psychological barrier of completing the 100 metres sprint in under ten seconds. The achievement is traditionally regarded as the hallmark of a world-class male sprinter. Its significance has become less i ...

for the first time, finishing in 9.95 seconds. He was a little slower in the final, however, placing sixth, which potentially qualified him for the m relay team. On July 11, Coleman was named to the US meters relay team. At the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

, Coleman ran the second leg for Team USA in the meters relay qualifying as the team won their heat with a time of 37.65 seconds. The team that ran in the finals, without Coleman, was disqualified. 100 m men final London 2017

2017 would prove to be Coleman's big breakthrough on the international scene. After winning the 100 meters and the 200 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, he turned pro; signing a contract with Nike. At the U.S. Championships in Sacramento, California; Coleman claimed second place in the 100 meters, running 9.98s, behind Justin Gatlin's 9.95s. Coleman also competed in the 200 meters, again finishing in second, behind Ameer Webb.

2017 World Championships

Coleman claimed silver in the 100 meters final, with a time of 9.94 seconds, behind Justin Gatlin and ahead of Usain Bolt in his final 100 meters race. He dropped out the 200 meter event, citing fatigue. He also ran the anchor leg for the US meters relay team at the championships, finishing second with a time of 37.52 seconds, 0.05 seconds behind Great Britain.

2018

Coleman began his 2018 indoor season with a

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

time of 6.37 seconds in the 60 meters at the Clemson Invitational in South Carolina, breaking Maurice Greene's near 20-year-old record by two one hundredths of a second. However, his time was not submitted for ratification as a world record by

USA Track & Field USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 a ...

due to the event neither providing for electronic starting blocks, which measure reaction times in preventing false starts, nor a zero gun (AKA zero control) test, which checks that the automatic clock-timing system start and capture sequence are properly recorded. But, one month later, on February 18, 2018, at the United States Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Coleman clocked a world record time of 6.34 seconds in the 60 meters final, thus breaking Maurice Greene's previously held record. He went on to win the 60 meters world indoor title at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, clocking a championship record (previously held by Maurice Greene) of 6.37 seconds. The time is also the fastest recorded indoor performance at sea level. It is his first gold medal at the major championships. At the start of the Outdoor season, Coleman suffered several setbacks. He injured his hamstring in April while in training and lost his first two 100 meter races of the year. One at the Prefontaine Classic in a wind-aided 9.84, and the other at an IAAF Diamond League event in Rome in 10.06. Both losses were to his teammate Ronnie Baker, who finished in third behind him at the 2018 World Indoor Championships. After his loss to Baker in Rome, Coleman dropped out of additional races in order to heal from his injuries. Coleman finally returned to the circuit in July, winning the 100m in Rabat, Morocco in 9.98s in a tight finish. In doing so, he defeated his U.S. teammates Baker,

Noah Lyles Noah Lyles (born July 18, 1997) is an American professional track and field sprinter competing in the 100 meters and 200 meters. He is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic 200 m bronze medalist and a two-time World champion, having won the event at the ...

, and

Mike Rodgers Michael Rodgers (born April 24, 1985) is an American professional track and field sprinter who specializes in the 100 m and the 60 m. He won the gold medal in the 100m relay in Doha 2019. He is also the Pan-Am Games Champion. Career ...

, who had all run 9.8 in Coleman's absence. Despite this decent return to form, he suffered more hamstring trouble while preparing for the 100m at the London Müller Anniversary Games, and did not return to racing until mid-August. On 18 August, Coleman won the 100 meters in 9.94s in Birmingham, England, just beating home favorite

Reece Prescod Reece Prescod (born 29 February 1996) is a British sprinter. He won the silver medal in the 100 metres at the 2018 European Championships and bronze for the 4 × 100 m relay at the 2022 World Championships. Prescod is a two-time British ...

by 0.001 seconds. At the 2018 Diamond League finals in Brussels, Belgium, Coleman clocked a blistering 9.79-second run into a wind during the men's 100 meters final, improving his personal best by three hundredths of a second. This performance marked Coleman as the joint 7th fastest performer of all time (tied with Maurice Greene) in the history of the event, as well as winning him his first Diamond League trophy. The time was the fastest run over the previous three years.

2019

Coleman skipped the 2019 indoor season in order to be fully prepared for the long outdoor season ahead. Coleman began his 2019 season with a quick 9.86s in the 100 meters at the IAAF Diamond League event in Shanghai, China. However, he was beaten on the line by compatriot Noah Lyles, who finished in the same time. He then won the 100 meters in Oslo, Norway in a world-leading 9.85. He ran his first 200-meter race in two years at the Golden Spike meet in Ostrava, Czech Republic, finishing second to Canada's

Andre de Grasse Andre De Grasse (born November 10, 1994) is a Canadian sprinter. A six-time Olympic medallist, De Grasse is the reigning Olympic champion in the 200 m, and also won the silver in the 200 m in 2016. He won a second silver in the 4×100 re ...

in 19.97 seconds. Next, Coleman won the 100m at the Prefontaine Classic in 9.81 seconds, lowering his world lead and beating world champion Justin Gatlin, who finished second in a seasons best of 9.87. In August 2019, the

United States Anti-Doping Agency The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA, ) is a non-profit, non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization and the national anti- doping organization (NADO) for the United States. To protect clean competition and the integrity of sport and prevent ...

temporarily banned Coleman under

anti-doping whereabouts The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; french: Agence mondiale antidopage, AMA) is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's k ...

rules, on the basis that he had missed three drug tests in a 12-month period. This would have resulted in a two-year ban excluding him from both the

2019 World Athletics Championships The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships () was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athletics. It was held betw ...

and the

2020 Tokyo Olympic Games The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. Coleman successfully appealed the decision on the basis that under the World Anti-Doping Agency's International Standard for Testing and Investigations, a first missed test should be backdated to the first day of that testing quarter (April 1, 2018 in Coleman's case). As Coleman's third whereabouts failure came on April 26, 2019, this meant he had missed two tests within any given 12-month period. The whereabouts failures, suspension, and subsequent successful appeal could have remained private but the news was leaked to the public prior to the World Championships. On September 28, 2019, Coleman won the final of the men's 100m at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in Doha, Qatar setting a personal best time of 9.76 seconds. That time makes Coleman the sixth fastest man in history, as well as the third fastest American in history. He subsequently withdrew from the 200m at the same event, preventing him attempting a sprint double.

2020

In February, Coleman decided to compete at the U.S. Indoor Championships in Albuquerque on the 14th and 15th with the intent of breaking his world record in the 60 m. On the first day, he won his heat in a world-leading time of 6.48 s while slowing down before the finish line. On the second day he won his semi-final in a time of 6.51 s again slowing before the finish line, and then took the U.S. title a few hours later in a world-leading 6.37 s, equal his second fastest time in world history and 0.12 s ahead of second place

Marvin Bracy Marvin Bracy-Williams (born December 15, 1993) is an American sprinter, and a former American football wide receiver. He played college football for the Florida State Seminoles, and quit just prior to their 2013 national championship season to ...

. On June 17, it was announced that Coleman was provisionally suspended from competition due to a further missed drug test dating back to December 9, 2019. On October 27, it was announced that Coleman had been banned until May 13, 2022, missing the

. He later appealed the decision to the

2021

On April 16, Coleman's ban was reduced to 18 months on appeal, ending on November 13, 2021, meaning he would still miss the 2020 Olympics.

Statistics

Information from

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

profile or Track & Field Results Reporting System unless otherwise noted.

Personal bests

Seasonal bests

International competitions

National championships

Circuit wins

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

(100 m) **Overall winner:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populatio ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. S ...

* World Indoor Tour (60 m) **

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

: 2018

Notes

References

External links

Official website
* * *

Videos

* via

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Christian Coleman wins the men's 60 meters USATF Indoor Championships final in 6.34 seconds
via

USATF USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 an ...

Men's 60m , World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018
on YouTube via